In my previous post, I set out the opportunity.
In my opinion, there’s challenges too.
It’s a step change for a city area and I don’t necessarily think it’s a straightforward prospect.
Project Hesitancy.
I don’t know the right shorthand but, for Trams and Metro Systems in the UK, the modern history is complicated. Cities had systems, move to buses and only in last 30 years has a reintroduction of fixed public transport came about.
Some systems from the nineties have expanded and become examples of what the Glasgow City Region wants to achieve and others are examples of what not to do.
Manchester. The Metrolink has seen sustained expansions and improvements for the Greater Manchester area. It has a champion in terms of the Mayor of the region and Manchester is looking at High Speed Rail, further commuter rail improvements and the improvements that a Transport for North agency could make across Northern England including Liverpool, Leeds and Newcastle upon Tyne with ‘Northern Powerhouse Rail’ proposals. These have been tempered by revisions by UK Government as well as with changes to HS2 particularly for an eastern leg to connect to Leeds.
Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Trams Enquiry has rumbled on and the costs incurred on replacing utilities and roads for the projected route became a political football and a spending headache. A single linear route from Airport to City Centre is only now seeing a further expansion toward Leith.
Glasgow – Strathclyde Tram. A mid nineties attempt for Glasgow to route a tram west to east ended with a challenge made by the dominant bus operator and very little in the way of information that I can quote as a panel at House of Lords covered the case. The promoter, Strathclyde Regional Council was wound up in 1996 with Local Government reorganisation and Clyde Metro isn’t a rehash of that scheme.
In general terms, the UK is poor at public transport infrastructure and a different attitude taken towards operation of public transport networks. Bus privatisation and the break up of British Rail, National Bus Company, Scottish Bus Group and sales of municipal undertakings took transport into private hands from the mid-eighties onward, it led to growth of large undertakings like Stagecoach National Express and First as well as seeing those companies enter rail franchises.
We are only now seeing an aftermath with Rail franchises moving back to government hands and the difficulties for many Bus operations in different parts of the UK.
City networks have changed, the competition between companies didn’t in the main materialise with Buses as city networks were lucrative resources to fund expansion and acquisitions, but some of the rail franchises proved more difficult prospects.
Times have changed and the social utility of Bus networks are recognised and legislation introduced to allow Councils and City Mayors in England to create new undertakings or regulate the local markets.
London, of course, was different. The red buses remained regulated and routes are let out to operators on contracts. The system has an overall guiding hand through the Mayor and Transport for London. The underground has seen investment and improvements and the recently opened Elizabeth Line as a cross-rail for the city takes pressure off some of the busiest tube lines. Trams in south London and the Docklands Light Railway have also seen investment. The London Overground has taken investment in what were secondary British Rail lines and created another Metro system from that.
LOCATION
Even in a ‘climate emergency’ Glasgow and the West of Scotland remain rainswept in comparison to much of Western Europe. A temperate but maritime climate means Glasgow sees something like 170 days per year on average with rain.
It doesn’t mean that public transport can’t work, Buses and Trains operate as normal in daily business but it can mean challenges as disparate for the rail network as overheating track points in high summer to frozen components in the worst parts of winter.
In terms of roads, regular use of road salt can see deterioration in road surfaces with potholes and other issues. Roads around the M8 Kingston Bridge use a liquid or glycerin solution to try and avoid further damage to the bridge structure.
Comparisons of tram systems will be limited, Edinburgh, Dublin and Manchester might provide useful examples of information on how to build and operate but, for construction, testing and operation, there will be specific issues for the city and choice of heavy metro will rely on the technical knowledge of the Glasgow City Rail Network and the Light Metro will need to tap into that knowledge whilst learning the city and environment.
Taking example costs from English Cities might help, but not every system will match closely or be adaptable.
Taking worldwide knowledge of new systems may help, but new systems in China or India may not necessarily have answers for the West of Scotland.
Technology
In heavy metro terms, The Scotrail network will lead the thinking for Clyde Metro and existing Train types and stock may be the initial answer for converting the system.
Clyde Metro also meets Scotrail’s stock situation where electric trains running services can date from the mid 1980s. Only the refurbished High Speed Trains are older.
Class 314 trains dating from the late 1970s and introduced with the Argyle line reopening have been retired in the past few years.
Class 318 three car units are similar BREL British Rail Engineering designs from the mid 1980s originally introduced for the ‘Ayrline’ electrification project. There are 21 units.
Class 320 was originally 22 units for North Clyde and Argyle Lines, an updated improved version of the BREL design introduced in 1990.
The class 318 and 320 units can work together and form a common pool, adjustments were made to the 320 units to enable them to work together. Additional 12 units were added to fleet as English Franchises gained replacements for Class 321 units and these were converted from four carriages to three and made into Class 320 units similar to the 1990 fleet.
Class 334 were introduced as replacements for the 1960’s Blue Trains and 40 Units were introduced around 2000. They initially operated Ayrshire and Inverclyde services but now operate on extended Helensburgh and Milngavie to Edinburgh Waverley Services.
Class 380 are modern Siemens Desiro stock with 38 units mixed between 3 and 4 carriage units. Normally operate Ayrshire and Inverclyde services and maximum of seven carriage trains are formed due to platform lengths
Class 385 are Scotrail’s most modern units being Hitachi A Train derived but appearing similar with gangways between units like the Class 380. 70 units with a mix of three and four car units and were introduced with the EGIP Edinburgh Glasgow improvement project and operate the shuttle services between the cities as well as the expanded electrification of services to Alloa and Stirling.
Therefore Scotrail needs to replace the Class 318s as the end of service life approaches. Scotrail have maintained and upgraded all of its older stock to modern standards and only the withdrawn Class 314 units could be viewed as poorer quality.
In Clyde Metro terms, A big bang, new Heavy Metro fleet would bring uniformity, a step change for trains that can serve more distant locations.
Balanced against that is cost. The majority of lines are or will be electrified. Routes to East Kilbride and Barrhead on the Glasgow and South Western are currently being upgraded and electrified.
Units similar to class 318 and 320 have been withdrawn by English operators in recent years and the shelf life for these 70 or so units must be limited.
A decision on their replacement might be deferred until a plan of conversion and operation for the Heavy Metro lines of Clyde Metro is established but their use isn’t necessarily guaranteed for say the Cathcart Circle lines.
London’s Overground made its step change by introducing metro style trains and carriages onto city lines previously operated by regular trains. Whether that is the thinking on the ‘heavy metro’ element remains to be seen, but Transport for London deep cleaned all Overground stations, made a point of tackling vandalism and having staff at stations from start to end of operations daily as well as the new operating stock.
Scotrail will still operate in the Clyde Metro area, lines will be shared in places and whether a Glasgow version of the Oystercard and a Glasgow version of TfL is introduced is another question.
Operation
At present Scotrail are an arms length company owned and operated by the Scottish Government
The Glasgow Subway is operated by SPT, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport. They are also an agency providing services for local authorities in the former Strathclyde area and subsidising some bus services.
The Glasgow City Region is the City Deal area for the west of Scotland including Inverclyde, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow and East and West Dunbartonshire and North and South Lanarkshire – it’s similar but not exactly same as the area SPT in it’s earlier Passenger Transport Executive days covered. As yet the City Region has no transport body.
The Scottish Government’s transport agency is Transport Scotland. Dealing with Roads and Ferries as well as public transport and Rail. It is a Scotland wide body.
Edinburgh uses Transport for Edinburgh to run the Trams as well as Lothian Buses. In recent years they have expanded the Bus brands to ones operating in West and Mid Lothian and differently in East Lothian towards the Scottish Borders. As mentions above, expansion of Edinburgh Trams to Leith is ongoing.
It seems a new operator is needed for Clyde Metro. It will share in places with Scotrail on heavy metro. A more enclosed Light Metro network is proposed too, more similar to a tram network although having two forms of rolling stock may be an issue.
In Germany the city transport networks have a ‘Verkersverbund’ as operator of street trams, pre-metro and full metro systems. It can vary with S-Bahn suburban train networks to U-Bahn underground systems.
Typically each city’s transport operator runs the system and in some cases is old infrastructure that is upgraded from street trams toward pre-metro and metro standards.
Pre-Metro systems typically use trams and will have Street and underground sections and may have sections converted from railways.
In and around Karlsruhe, Tram/Train operation sees the vehicles Street run in city centres but also use pre-existing rail lines to operate to towns and villages further distant.
Much of the Clyde Metro as defined in the STPR2 study is urban.
Routes around Renfrewshire, say to Erskine or Barrhead or Neilston may see a transition from City through suburbs to outlying towns.
The proposal is long term and over a 40 year period.
The time frame may go beyond the City Region Deal too.
Therefore, it’s an issue with Scottish Government and Transport Scotland as to the Vehicle that creates the Clyde Metro and the vehicle that manages and operates and sells passes or tickets to the public.
The Vehkersbundverein in Germany are seperate to the local councils and maybe operating over a number of different local authorities but generally within the one state.
So a similar body that’s across the Glasgow City Region, that’s not the City Deal authority and not Transport Scotland is likely and may need legislation to establish. It would seem unlikely SPT would be transformed from its current role and more likely the Glasgow Subway become an element of the Clyde Metro Network.
Local accountability is needed and representation from both national government and local Councils is necessary even if an operator does the day to day work.
Image
The London Underground’s Roundel of a red circle and blue bar is iconic and memorable.
The Glasgow area needs to have a design or logo or shape that makes its mark.
Colours too. The metro vehicles will have to be distinct from the Scotrail blue and saltire dots logos.
Fonts and lettering and signage and user interface will matter and that’s as important for physical signs for stations and stops to how it looks on the internet or app
For me, Glasgow cracked it in the 1970s. It took the traditional Green and Cream coloured buses and made a bright Yellow and Green livery going from the traditional Glasgow City Transport livery to the operation by the new PTE
To me, that could work on modern tram/Metro Vehicles
I think it’s something that could work or be adapted. The GG Greater Glasgow arrow/chevron implies movement and bright immediate colours catch the eye.
In a football country though and a city like Glasgow it would create some issues as Green/White are Celtic’s colours. The green/white/yellow create a tricolour. But we have had orange ‘Strathclyde Red’ trains and buses too.
Whether just the white and yellow whether green changes to green and blue, there are fantastic designers of vehicle liveries out there and something distinct and lively is needed against a grey sky on a rainy day.
Good design is part of the Transport for London experience and you see that when visiting the city and also their transport museum in Covent Garden.
Useage
What is Clyde Metro solving?
Who’s a passenger?
Sometimes you have to start at the beginning and look at the problem.
Congestion. Motorways designed for 70mph travel get to city centres and you have congestion and tail backs and queues.
Car use expands to fit the available road space. Up to a certain point free running stops and the weight of numbers of demand and capacity reach the point where it a problem.
Even public transport can be snarled up by traffic and buses fall victim to other road users at peak hours.
So, a network on its own track, it’s own space, can run differently to roads, at different frequencies from different places to combine to give a very frequent service at the city centre and back out again.
I commuted to Glasgow city centre by train most of my working life. It was a 15 minute journey with walks at either end.
The walking at either end allowed me access to shops and facilities. I latterly sometimes met my daughter went for dinner, browsed bookshops and used the train to get home.
The car journey was only equivalent to the train when the motorway was quiet. I would still have to pay for parking and still have to find a space near where I worked. The parking was usually near £10 a day and then there’s fuel, the car costs, tyres, maintenance, insurance, road tax.
My monthly travel pass was about £5 a day covering both ways, buses if I needed to and flexible travel at weekends too. I used an SPT Zonecard much of the time and it was more expensive than a scotrail weekly/monthly ticket but had more flexibility. It was a rail ticket with a photo card not a modern Oyster card type ticket.
I wasn’t alone in doing that sort of commute in and out to Glasgow. Workers, Students at universities and colleges.
So, points and places that generate journeys. Workplaces, facilities, education, hospitals, restaurants, bars and everything else.
A public transport solution can be mixed mode. Train to Partick, switch to subway and go to the West End of Glasgow or Govan. Buses can feed trains, I’ve certainly used the bus to get to or from the station on a rainy day.
So, your answer is that the Glasgow or Greater Glasgow ‘Verkersbundverein’ is the means to access transport. You have a card or a pass or an app on your phone. Ping it at a reader on your way out and in. Get charged a flat rate daily or for a specific journey or whatever’s the cheapest bearing in mind the overheads and costs of running the network.
But the network doesn’t need to make a profit. It’s there as infrastructure, a shared investment for over 2 milllion people and visitors and tourists.
It’s an opportunity for the first time in decades to modernise how people get around a city. It’s an opportunity to provide a modern, safe, clean service for everyone.
It’s a chance for the public to take pride in knowing they have a fast, frequent, reliable and affordable solution to getting about, that they can mix active travel with a fixed system where they know when they’ll get home.
So, it’s commuters and shopping and having a drink and getting home safely.
It is done elsewhere and can be done for the Greater Glasgow area.
Conclusion
I could advocate for infrastructure and public transport all day long. The benefits are huge, the opportunity is huge. But the UK turned it from a public service to a private good. Having a car was seen as desirable and a bubble for you and your family. Housing estates designed for it. Shopping parks where only car access was made.
High streets die, shopping plazas change. Bigger stores get built.
Somehow we get back to, wasn’t it great when I could walk to the shops and the fifteen minute/twenty minute community becomes desirable.
Parking a car is a headache sometimes. Accessing cities can be too. It’s part of the answer that’s society seeks.
For the Clydeside Conurbation, a place that industrialised. Became busy on commerce and making things, that saw a sad decline and the loss of workplaces and communities and changed with schemes and housing and then again regeneration, the answer must be to again evolve.
To keep our heritage of buildings and places bit make it accessible for all in a common way and a Metro offers that. A chance to change, a chance to step up to an integrated system where you can have an app or a card and your bus connects to your metro to your destination and it’s planned and thought through and made to give everyone access and ability to use that day to day in their lives.
It’s been achieved elsewhere and it’s possible and the vision is needed to see through the initial possibilities and see it as an investment in our future, not a cost or tax or way to punish motorists. More an incentive not to have to drive.
Chic Gibson - A blog of sorts 